What the heck happened on this wild non-touchdown for Robert Hunt and the Dolphins?
Robert Hunt almost had one of the great big-man touchdowns in history Thursday, only to have it wiped away by the cruel letter of the NFL rulebook.
Somehow, the indelible image from the Miami Dolphins’ 22-10 win against the Baltimore Ravens was Hunt — a 6-foot-6, 327-pound offensive lineman — contorting his body and reaching the ball across the goal line for a touchdown that was never going to count.
“I was trying to win,” Hunt said, laughing through an absurd postgame press conference.
Because, again, he’s an offensive lineman and those guys aren’t allowed to catch passes unless they’re declared eligible. (He wasn’t.)
So what exactly happened on the strangest play of a deeply strange Thursday Night game? With 13:11 left in the fourth quarter, the Dolphins tried to run a screen to running back Myles Gaskin on third-and-goal at the Ravens’ 6-yard line and, for some reason, Hunt set up like the pass was intended for him, turning his body back toward Tua Tagovailoa to square up for a catch he was not legally allowed to make.
With pressure in his face, Tagovailoa lofted a pass toward Gaskin and his mob of lead blockers, and Hunt, who was playing right guard, pulled the pass out of the air and rumbled to the end zone. He cut past one defender and got hit low as he came to the goal line, flipping through the air and stretching the ball just far enough to break the plane.
“I just kind of saw it and it was third down,” Hunt said. “I just saw the ball and I don’t know, I just blanked out, man. I just caught the ball and tried to run with it.”
It was all for naught. After a long discussion, the officials called the play back for illegal touching. Hunt had not declared eligible and therefore he could not be the first player to touch a pass thrown by the quarterback. Miami went backward 5 yards and Tagovailoa threw an incomplete pass on his second third-and-goal attempt. The Dolphins settled for a field goal to stretch their lead to six.
In the moment, he said he forgot he wasn’t allowed to touch the ball.
“It’s embarrassing,” Hunt said. “It’s all over the internet, too.”
In a game — and season — full of strange moments for Miami, Hunt’s non-touchdown was a new peak (or valley?). Remember, the Dolphins in September threw an unblocked screen pass in their own end zone for a safety against the Las Vegas Raiders, and blew a chance to take a halftime lead on the Buffalo Bills on Halloween when a snap hit Mike Gesicki and bounced to the defense while the tight end was going in motion. Even earlier Thursday, Miami ran a flea flicker where Tagovailoa threw a dump-off right back to Gaskin after he pitched the ball back to his quarterback.
The Hunt play, though, was one to remember. Even usually humorless coach Brian Flores couldn’t help but chuckle about it.
“Great effort. Incredible effort. It’s a penalty, though,” he said. “Maybe we’ll put a play in for him.”
This story was originally published November 11, 2021 at 11:25 PM.
